Patna,(BiharTimes): Nepal has invited the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well as the Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar for a function on May 21 to commemorate the birth and enlightenment of Gautam Buddha at his birthplace, Lumbini.

Reports from New Delhi suggest that Narendra Modi wants Nitish Kumar to travel with him to Lumbini for the Budh Purnima celebrations. The Prime Minister’s Office would be writing to the Bihar chief minister, conveying former’s request.

“It's a matter of protocol, a formality. It’s up to the chief minister to take a call,” a source was quoted in the Telegraph.

Modi is treating the gesture to Nitish as more than a protocol requirement. He is likely to follow up the missive with a phone call to the chief minister to stress that their joint arrival and presence on the occasion would convey how the “true spirit of cooperative federalism was in practice in India”.

The chief minister’s office in Patna as well as the Janata Dal (United) denied knowledge and information on Modi's desire of travelling together with Nitish. "We do not have any information," Nitish's secretary Chanchal Kumar told the daily.

Former diplomat and JD(U) Rajya Sabha MP Pavan Varma too said he had “no idea”.

It needs to be mentioned that Modi and Nitish are bitter political rivals. They have been personally targeting each other ever since the latter cancelled the dinner to the BJP bigwigs on June 12, 2010 when they had gathered in Patna for a national executive meet.Ironically, the BJP and the JD(U) were allies then.

However, on March 12 last the prime minister publicly appreciated Bihar government’s achievement on rural electrification while the CM was very much on the dais.

However, according to the report, the BJP sources are not sure if he would accept Modi’s invitation. The source close to the Prime Minister said: "From our side we will do everything to ensure he (Nitish) accompanies the PM."

Buddhists from all over the world come on pilgrimage to Mahabodi Temple in Bodh Gaya on this occasion.